Turkey Tourism Should Include a Gallipoli Tour
One-Day Anzac tours from Istanbul Explore All the Gallipoli Sites
Aug 27, 2009
When Australians travel to Turkey, it is quite often to make what could best be called a pilgrimage to Gallipoli, bloody scene of the fledgling Australian army’s first engagement and greatest, most horrific defeat. While the battle site is iconic for Aussies, Gallipoli also saw huge losses from other nations – New Zealand, Britain, France, India, and, of course, the hardest hit, Turkey itself. Consequently, an English-language guided tour of the Gallipoli peninsula is a moving and memorable experience for any tourist responsive to the great human waste of war, and especially so for anyone who has a grandfather or other relative who fought in this Dardanelles Campaign of World War I.
The Anzac House Gallipoli Tour from Istanbul
As Istanbul is usually the first port of call for overseas tourists to Turkey, it is likely that an organized Gallipoli tour from this centre will be the logical approach.
Anzac House Tourism, which owns Hassle-Free Tours, the Maydos Restaurant at the Eceabat tour lunch stop, and the Anzac House Youth Hostel across the Bosphorus at Canakkale, seem to have swamped any competition. Nevertheless, they do not rest on their laurels. The one- and two- day tours they offer are efficient, comfortable, complete and knowledgeable.
Structure of the One-Day Gallipoli Tour
This tour is not for the faint-hearted. It involves pick-up from the client’s hotel in central Istanbul between 6:30 am and 7:00 am, a five hour drive to the Gallipoli peninsula, approximately five hours’ of guided tour of battlefields, museum and cemeteries, then a five-hour return trip, with clients arriving home after midnight.
The large tour coaches are extremely comfortable, but do not have toilet facilities. There is, however, a breakfast stop at around 9:30 at a service(gas) station. Breakfast is not included in the price of the tour.
For the duration of the post-breakfast leg, travelers are shown an excellent documentary video, told from authentic diary entries of an Australian, a New Zealand, a British and a Turkish soldier. The stories are harrowing and remarkably similar. By the time the bus reaches Gallipoli, the group is in a pensive somber mood. Indeed, lunch may seem almost unwelcome after the graphic horror recorded on video.
Lunch Stop at Maydos Restaurant, Eceabat
Lunch is included and is at the Maydos restaurant at the small seaside town of Eceabat, on the Gallipoli peninsula. The set lunch is pleasant and filling, and usually consists of a soup, a small salad, fish or chicken and vegetables, followed by fruit salad. The landing stage at this restaurant is also where the ferry takes clients across to Canakkale in the evening, if they have chosen to stay over and complete the Troy tour the following day, as well.
The Kabatepe Gallipoli Museum
The first stop on the tour is the Kabatepe Museum. Entrance is included in the overall tour price. Various artefacts collected since the battle are on display, including the uniforms of all groups involved in the fray, various weapons, bullets, shells and equipment. Large poster size photos convey the horror of months in the trenches.
The Battle Grounds and Cemeteries
The battlefield is quite a compact area, so special sites are only minutes from one another. Australians will be particularly moved to see the Anzac Cove landing beach, nearby Hell Spit Beach Cemetery with the grave of John Simpson, and Lone Pine Cemetery. The beach now looks like an idyllic, serene holiday spot. The water is blue and crystal clear; the gentle wash swishes across shiny, smooth pebbles. It seems an unlikely spot for carnage. When the guide holds up a large photo of the beach taken on 25th April 1915, the incredible truth hits home. There is the same curving, narrow beach, the same hills behind, but the tiny area is packed with men, equipment and dead bodies and the smoke of bombardment hangs on the horizon.
The tour includes Ariburnu, Lone Pine, Johnson’s Jolly (where visitors see how close the Turkish and Allied trenches were, and can walk in the trenches), Chanuk Bair New Zealand Memorial, The Nek, and the 47th Turkish Regiment Memorial.
A Quality Commentary by the Turkish Tour Guide
The commentary is exceptionally interesting, detailed and sensitive. While the determined and costly Turkish defence of their homeland is expounded with pride, the bravery and suffering of all combatants is the core message. The strange camaraderie and compassion shown between the combatants is also a key element of the Gallipoli story explored during the tour.
Tips for the Gallipoli Tourist
Most certainly take this tour. Gallipoli is an unforgettable experience. However, if time permits, the more leisurely two-day tour that adds Troy and Ephesus is possibly more manageable.
Take ample Turkish lira for supplementary meals and snacks, and particularly to buy bottles of water, as summer temperatures can soar.
While thousands of Australian and New Zealand travelers try to time their visit to participate in the Anzac Day Dawn Service on April 25 each year, the beauty of being present on this most solemn of occasions may be outweighed by the sheer logistics of the operation – an overnight stay at Canakkale and a 2:30 am awakening to be there for dawn, dense crowds, queues of buses, and lack of adequate toilet facilities. An off-season visit could give greater satisfaction.
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